by adheline » Tue Apr 19, 2016 6:28 am
I approach Austen carefully, her lack of comfort with me still apparent. She eyes me warily, not moving from her stance, which I take as cue to unlock her stall door and slide it open. She knows what I want and moves her head so the clip on her halter is a little harder to reach. With one hand stroking her cheek softly, I guide her face towards me so I can clip on the lead. With that accomplished, I move her outside towards one of the small, fenced pastures. I don't turn away from her as I close the gate, not wanting to give her the impression that I was leaving.
We start off slowly, and I walk by her side around in circles. After she's warmed up, I move over and have her speed up gradually. Eventually she's at a steady canter in loops around me, her lithe body moving with grace. She's better than when we started, transitioning better and moving more smoothly whenever commanded to do so. After a couple more minutes where I can see she's starting to tire out, I have her slow down until finally she's standing again, staring at me.
I lead her over to the next pasture at the right and close the gate. Then I move towards her, scratching at her chin while I take off the lead. She bumps my shoulder with her nose, and I say we've made decent progress today. After rolling up the lead, I run my hand along her neck soothingly to cool her down from her exercise. Eventually she rocks back a step and I rub at her soft spot at the joint of her neck and cheek to see her head loll before taking my leave. I watch her as I close the gate between us, and she watches me before turning and picking at some grass.
314 words (+4 skill)
